Ralph White is co-founder of the New York Open Center, America’s leading urban institution of holistic learning where his current role is Creative Director. The Open Center receives almost 60,000 visits annually from participants in its year round programs and has presented the major writers and speakers in the fields of wellness, social/ecological change, inner development, world spiritual traditions, art and creativity  for over twenty seven years. He is an international speaker on spirituality, consciousness, the history of the Western Tradition. He is also editor of the award winning Lapis magazine, and taught the first fully accredited course in holistic thinking and learning at New York University.  For many years he wrote the Open Center catalogue, and he has since edited and introduced The Rosicrucian Enlightenment Revisited (Lindisfarne Press, 1999), contributed to What Does It Mean to Be Human, edited by Frederick Franck ( St. Martin’s Press, 2000) and written the foreword to The Way of the Wanderer by David Yeadon (Travelers’ Tales, 2001). His story “ A Walk on the Wild Side of Tibet” was published in Tibet: True Stories (Travelers’ Tales 2003). He has also written commentary on the political goals of the Religious Far Right for the Huffington Post, and contributed articles on topics such as alternative community, the national network of holistic centers, the movement for legal renewal, and the philosopher Rudolf Steiner for Dragonfly Media, a network of local magazines reaching an audience of 250,000.

He was born in Wales and spent his childhood there and his teenage years in the north of England. After completing a degree in American Studies at the University of Sussex, he came to the United States from Britain in 1970 as a Fulbright scholar. He was program director of Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck in the early Eighties. He has taught and lectured in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Russia, and Poland. He has also organized many major national and international conferences on a broad range of spiritual and alternative themes, and is considered by those in the field of holistic learning one of the most knowledgeable professionals in America. The national and international conferences he has both organized and directed include The Art of Dying, Reimagining Politics and Society at the Millennium, Examining the Real Agenda of the Religious Far Right, Prague, Alchemy and the Hermetic Tradition, The Italian Renaissance and the Esoteric Traditions, Psyche, Spirit and Addiction, Voluntary Simplicity, The Grail and Arthurian Traditions, The Golden Age of Andalusia: Sufis, Kabbalists and Christian Philosophers in Medieval Spain; The Mysteries and Philosophy of Greek Antiquity and, most recently in 2009, An Esoteric Quest for Inner America. The series of international conferences known as Esoteric Quests are widely considered the leading events in the world on the Western Tradition. Established by Ralph in 1995, they are now entering their 15^th year and will find new expression in 2011 in A Quest for Ancient Alexandria: Greco-Egyptian Cradle of Western Esotericism.

He has made numerous appearances on radio and television, both in the United States and internationally. These include National Public Radio, the BBC World Service, Voice of America, CBS Nightwatch with Charlie Rose, RAI TV Italy, a broad variety of New York television and radio stations, Greek and Russian television, and Polish and Czech radio. He was featured in a prominent recent article in the Los Angeles Times, and been quoted in The New York Times, Time magazine, the New York Daily News,  the New York Observer, and many other more holistically oriented publications such as New Age Journal, Common Boundary. Lapis magazine, won the Alternative Press Award 2000 from Utne Reader. The award cited “the blending of the modern western mind with an ancient sense of soul” as the heart of Lapis’ editorial alchemy. He received a personal note from the editor of Utne Reader informing him that of all the magazines in Utne’s library, Lapis was his favorite and the one he was most likely to remove for his own private reading.

He currently hosts a program on WBAI FM radio in New York City where has interviewed many of the major figures in the holistic world and numerous scholars in the fields of multicultural mysticism and ecology. He is a popular speaker on a wide variety of holistic themes including the Western tradition, the Celtic Soul, the Wisdom of Rudolf Steiner, and the overall direction of the consciousness movement. He is recognized and honored as a guiding force of the annual Gathering of Holistic Centers which draws leaders from many of the major holistic institutions throughout the world to discuss trends, developments, challenges and successes in the worldwide consciousness movement.

Tricia is an mBIT Master Coach & Trainer who is also a Multi-Disciplined Practitioner, focusing on Health, Wellness & Mindset Shifts for Success.   She's also a healer.

She guides women entrepreneurs who are stuck and at a crossroads in life, to success by changing their mindsets and releasing the hidden blocks that are keeping them “sticking”, so they are free to fulfill their dreams and the lives they truly desire. 

SALLY STONE is the award-winning author of Golden Words: The A-to-Z Toolkit for Changing Your Life One Word at a Time. Her book just came out at the end of last year and to date has won 3 awards.  She developed the concept of “golden words” to describe positive words we activate in our lives using focused intention and hypnosis.

Certified as both a hypnotist and a health coach, Sally helps her clients attain health, happiness, and life purpose goals using a body, mind, spirit approach. Some of the positive results her clients have experienced include increased self-confidence and creativity, moving into flow and goal achievement, pain control, stress reduction, elimination of cravings, better sleep, trauma release, increased optimism and well-being, the falling away of bad habits, a more relaxed perception of time, connections to their spiritual guides, alignment with their true self, and insights into their near death experiences. Her customized programs combine golden words with hypnosis, health coaching, regressions, family constellations, and yoga techniques to facilitate lasting transformation.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio

Family relocated here in 1998

Attended University of Denver

Graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2004 with a degree major in business and minor in finance

Spent my "previous life" in the mortgage business right out of high school before starting a career in the investment world in early 2003

Now owns and runs Dress For Less Clothiers at 3045 S Broadway in Englewood.  This store had a proud 30-year history before Michael bought it in July of 2013, having been opened originally in June of 1986.

 Michael has taken that icon of the community, developed and improved, refined and redesigned, tweaked and lovingly nurtured it into what it is today – a force of nature in the men’s clothing market.

Joan Mellen, Author and Professor, Temple University

JOAN MELLEN is a professor of English and creative writing at Temple University in Philadelphia. She is the author of twenty-two books, ranging from film criticism to fiction, sports, true crime, Latin American studies and biography. Her early work was about the cinema. Her “Women and Their Sexuality in the New Film” published in 1974, was a landmark work in feminist studies. Larry McMurtry pronounced it “brilliant” in his “Washington Post” review. Her study of the image of women in film was followed by the companion study, “Big Bad Wolves: Masculinity in the American Cinema.” Her book about “The Battle of Algiers,” written in 1972, has been quoted widely in connection with the events of 9/11.

In 1972, she was awarded a prize by the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper organization in Japan. This led her to write five books about Japan, including “The Waves at Genji’s Door: Japan through Its Cinema,” 1976. Her 1981 novel, “Natural Tendencies,” is set in Japan. More recently, she has written two books about Japanese film for the British Film Institute, “Seven Samurai” (2002) and “In the Realm of the Senses” (2004).

She is also a biographer. Both “Kay Boyle: Author of Herself” (1994) and “Hellman and Hammett” (1996) were “New York Times” Notable Books of the year. “Hellman and Hammett” was also a finalist for the “Los Angeles Times” book prize.

She has written for a variety of publications such as the “New York Times,” the “Los Angeles Times,” and the “Philadelphia Inquirer, including the “Baltimore Sun” where she is a frequent contributor. She has also lectured widely at universities and festivals, including, twice at the Harbourfront International Festival of Authors and, most recently, during the summer of 2005 at the Shaw festival in Niagara-On-The-Lake.

In 2004, she was awarded one of Temple University’s coveted “Great Teacher” awards for outstanding achievement, in particular in the graduate program in creative writing.

Joan Mellen lives in Pennington, New Jersey. 

About Joan's new book...

Faustian Bargains: Lyndon Johnson and Mac Wallace in the Robber Baron Culture of Texas

by Joan Mellen

Cindy Sharp is a quirky, rule breaker, change maker and a light to all that know her - her moving stories of being born with a rare birth defect, wealthy at times, abused, homeless at 17, on occasion very rebellious and eventually self-loved. She shines a bright light in a fun filled loving way in all her talks; she loves to sprinkle her stories in her teachings. One thing she learned along the way was that never giving up, moving forward and laughing was the journey to find herself, spirit and her true calling, healing businesses.  Cindy spent 20-years’ experience in the corporate world as a successful coach and trainer. She is an author, speaker, radio host, laughter yoga leader and spiritual business coach.

Lettice McCoy is a Rain International Partner and Founding Member.Rain International is the first and world leader in nutritional supplements based on seeds. After Lettice tried the first seed product 2 ½ years ago, she had to be part of sharing Rain’s cutting edge seed nutrition with the world. For over 25 years, Lettice has used a wide range of natural products such as vitamins, Chinese herbs and Homeopathy. She has been involved with lifestyles like those based on Macrobiotics, blood types and raw foods. Seed nutrition can be a complimentary addition to the lives of virtually everyone from children, athletes to the elderly. During these past 2 ½ years with Rain International, Lettice has added a number of non-GMO, organic seeds to her daily regime for the anti-inflammatory, anti-aging and antioxidant benefits and more. Lettice McCoy is a Presenter and Speaker, as well as a Rain International Partner and Founding Member, letticem@icloud.com, (253) 651-3878

Dr. Munson has been practicing for over 20 years as a Wellness Chiropractor. Before attending chiropractic school he worked in his parent’s health food store from the age of 10 until 21. All told Dr. Munson has been working in the healthcare world for over 30 years. Dr. Munson has post graduate training in nutrition response testing, Morphogenic Field technique, Hormone balancing and a Certification in Addictionology. He is a family man who enjoys spending time with his wife Jeanne and their two kids Raven and Silas. The Munson family also enjoys hiking and biking and Dr. Munson and his wife Jeanne have a passion for sports and play soccer and volleyball together. The Munsons love to read and homeschool their children.

You can reach Dr. Munson at 360-893-8586 or munson@ortingchiro.net